The background description provided herein is solely for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. Aspects of the background description are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the claimed subject matter.
Medical implants such as joint prostheses and the like are frequently used to replace and/or restore a bodily function or lack of function. For example, hip prosthesis systems may replace the hip joint in patients who have lost some or all of the function of the original joint. The implant components may be metal or alloy and are typically secured to bone using metal or alloy fasteners. Thus, there may be a risk of fusion caused by cold welding and/or corrosion between metallic or alloyed surfaces on adjacent medical implant components. Another unwanted event which makes the removal of implants difficult is tissue overgrowth on the implants. In some procedures such as bone fracture repairs, the implants may be subsequently removed or extracted from the bone after healing. Cold welding or corrosive fusion between the medical implant components or between a component and a fastener, or tissue/bone overgrowth on the implants, may render the extraction process difficult.
Accordingly, materials and methods for prevention of cold welding, corrosion in interfaces between implant components and tissue overgrowth on surfaces of implants may be useful for some applications.